Suggestive search engine

Abstract

A search engine autocomplete user interface is disclosed, which provides auto-complete suggestions in both text and iconic form in order to save space and to provide a more intuitive layout. Autocomplete suggestions could be nested in a tree structure that could be navigated through using forward and back interfaces, and autocomplete suggestions could include both sub-searches within a specific domain or using other search engines, and could include functional cross tasks such as saving an event to a calendar.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium for providing information to a user interface, comprising instructions stored thereon, that when executed on a processor, perform the steps of:
 Receiving a search term from a user interface;   Generating a first set of search results comprising suggested queries;   Generating a second set of search results comprising matches for each of the suggested queries;   Generating a search result tree having a first level of nodes comprising the first set of search results and a second level of nodes comprising the second set of search results; and   Presenting the search result tree to a user interface, wherein the first set of search results is presented in a first media format in a first direction and the second set of search results is presented in a second media format in a second direction.   
     
     
         2 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the first media format comprises a text format and the second media format comprises an image format. 
     
     
         3 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the image format comprises a set of icons, wherein each of the set of icons represents a different search engine. 
     
     
         4 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the first media format comprises a text format and the second media format comprises a video format. 
     
     
         5 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the first direction comprises a vertical direction and the second direction comprises a horizontal direction. 
     
     
         6 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the first set of search terms radiate from a centralized node comprising the search term. 
     
     
         7 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the matches for each of the suggested queries comprise a set of hyperlinks associated with the suggested query. 
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the matches for each of the suggested queries comprise a set of functions associated with the suggested query. 
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein at least one of the set of functions is configured to trigger a task by an application installed on the non-transitory, computer-readable medium associated with a suggested query of the first set of search results. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the task comprises at least one of the group consisting of calling a phone number, initiating an email to an email address, or adding an event to a calendar. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the second set of matches is configured to trigger a search for the suggested query using an auxiliary search engine and automatically select the highest-rated search result. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the suggested queries is configured to trigger a search and automatically select the highest-rated search result. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further configured to perform the steps of:
 Recognizing a similarity between a match from the second level of nodes and a suggested query from the first level of nodes and   Deleting the suggested query from the first level of nodes.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further configured to perform the steps of:
 Recognizing a similarity between a first match from the second level of nodes and a second match from the second level of nodes and   Deleting the second match from the second level of nodes.   
     
     
         15 . The non transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 13 , wherein the instructions are configured to perform the step of deleting the suggested query from the first level of nodes when the recognized similarity exceeds a predefined threshold. 
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium for providing information to a user interface, comprising instructions stored thereon, that when executed on a processor, perform the steps of:
 Receiving a search term from a user interface;   Generating a set of search results based on the search term;   Matching each search result to an icon representative of the search result; and   Displaying each search result as an icon to the user.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further configured to perform the step of presenting the search result tree to the user interface by presenting the search results as a watermark. 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the instructions are further configured to perform the step of presenting the search result tree to the user interface by overlaying at least a portion of the second set of search results with at least a portion of the first set of search results. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 17 , wherein the instructions are further configured to perform the step of presenting the search result tree to the user interface by displaying at least a portion of the second set of search results under at least a portion of the first set of search results. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the instructions are further configured to display the second set of search results differently from the first set of search results by varying at least one of the group consisting of size, Color, transparency, sharpness, gradient fill or degree of saturation. 
     
     
         21 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further configured to perform the step of presenting the search result tree to the user interface by presenting the second set of search results only when an approaching finger is at a predetermined distance from the screen or less. 
     
     
         22 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 21 , wherein the predetermined distance is between 1 and 3 cm. 
     
     
         23 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 21 , wherein the predetermined distance is calculated using a touchless gesture technology. 
     
     
         24 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium for providing information to a user interface, comprising instructions stored thereon, that when executed on a processor, perform the steps of:
 Presenting a menu item to a user;   Linking the menu item to a plurality of submenu items; and   Executing the function of the menu item when a submenu item is selected, wherein the function is configured is to represent both the menu item and the submenu item by overlaying at least a portion of the menu item with at least a portion of the submenu items by the use of a watermark.   
     
     
         25 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 24 , wherein the instructions are further configured to perform the step of presenting the menu item to the user interface by presenting the submenu items only when an approaching finger is at a predetermined distance from the screen or less. 
     
     
         26 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 25 , wherein the predetermined distance is between 1 and 3 cm. 
     
     
         27 . The non-transitory, computer readable medium of  claim 25 , wherein the predetermined distance is calculated using a touchless gesture technology. 
     
     
         28 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium for providing information to a user interface, comprising instructions stored thereon, that when executed on a processor, perform the steps of:
 Receiving a search term from a user interface;   Matching the search term with a webpage;   Extracting one or more items from the webpage, wherein the item comprises at least one of the group consisting of: a hyperlink, a title, a heading, a subheading or a navigation bar item;   Indexing the items into a list of search results;   Presenting the list of search results to the user interface;   Enabling a user to select at least one item, of the search results; and   Loading the item when the user selects the item.   
     
     
         29 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 28 , wherein the item is a hyperlink. 
     
     
         30 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 29 , wherein the instructions further perform the steps of:
 Extracting the hyperlink from the search results for a second item or more, wherein the second item comprises at least one of the group consisting of: a hyperlink, a title, a heading, a subheading or a navigation bar item;   Indexing the second items into a second list of search results;   Presenting the second list of search results to the user interface;   Enabling the user to select the second item, of the second search results; and   Loading the second item when the user selects the second item.